


Caelum Pirata

by dulceata2



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-07-04 07:57:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15837060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dulceata2/pseuds/dulceata2
Summary: Sky Pirates. She saw the sky and it was freedom. He saw her as his sky.





	1. You Can't Take The Sky From Me

Ella squinted up at the blue sky. The sun nearly blinded her and she could barely make out the outline of an Archadian warship. She scoffed to herself at their temerity. As if they had the right to fly freely in those skies. The sky was supposed to be an open escape, and they were tarnishing it. As it were she was land-locked until the skies cleared. And she hated it. She hadn’t realized just how bad chocobos smelled in the heat. She was a bit disgusted by them - not only did they smell foul, they were birds, they were supposed to fly!  
Currently, she was camped out near the ruins of Nalbina, upwind from the birds obviously. She checked her supply stock again in the hopes that something had changed. She was down to a single potion and ether. And she couldn’t enter the Nalbinian market since it was overflowing with Imperials. Not that they had anything on her. Yet.   
So she could rough it back to Rabanastre, but she doubted it. She kicked herself that she had foregone getting that cure magick. As it were her prowess with a katana would only get her so far.   
“Ah to hell with it” she muttered; she would just avoid fighting.   
She was just getting up and rearranging her daggers in their sheaths when she heard a noise behind her. Someone was coming out of the old Barheim Passage entrance. She hadn’t seen anyone go in and she’d been there for a while.  
First to appear was a young boy in scanty armor which she already disapproved of. What was the point of the vest? If he wasn’t going to protect his torso, why bother wearing anything?  
He threw himself on the sand once he broached the doorway in dramatic relief, throwing his arm out and making a sand form.   
Next to appear was a Viera in their typical scanty clothing. This one was in a black leather bikini-like vest with painfully high heels. Her sharp eyes immediately focused on my seated figure, whereas the boy was naively prone, she was alert, although she did not reach for the bow on her back.  
She was closely followed by a russet-haired male with fine cheekbones who was fixing his cuffs determinedly and tsking to himself at their stained appearance. He was not as unaware as he appeared, as every so often she’d see a flash of green as he made subtle sweeps of the area.  
He wore leather pants which were ridiculous in this heat, but the way the large number of belts accented his butt made it look really nice. She must have been staring since when she glanced up she saw amused green eyes watching her.   
She was a bit startled when the sandy-haired boy popped up in her line of vision, all smiles.  
“Hi! What’s your name?” he said brightly. From the corner of her eye, she saw the russet-haired man put his face in hands and shake his head, his earrings jingling.   
He was familiar. She knew she recognized him, but yet….  
She flashed to a much more formal setting. The hall was dimly lit by wall sconces reflecting against the many mirrors. She was shorter and staring across at a red-haired boy of around her age who was also hiding behind his father. He wore a much more detailed vest with more lace and actual hose. But what she remembered most was the way those green eyes had met her’s curiously.   
She stood leaning her wait on one hip and crossing her arms.   
“Well, Bunansa is this one your’s?”  
His brow creased in confusion. Obviously, he didn’t recognize me, which was all well and good.  
“The name’s Balthier actually” he bluffed.  
“As you say” she nodded and turned to go.   
She was wearing shoulder guards and a light off the shoulder blouse with an intricate vest over it, and breeches underneath covered by knee-high boots. She was well armed with a dagger sheathed in her boot, a gun holstered on her right hip and a katana sheathed on her other. So typical Rozarrian, but still sensible. She could feel his gaze taking all this in, trying to asses her.  
“Wait!” It was a different voice, deeper and huskier than she expected. She turned with her hand on the hilt of her katana, subtly. She was surprised to see it was not Bunansa who had called out, but a blonde haired Dalmascan who looked like he hadn’t shaved for months.  
“Can I help you?” she asked with a raised brow.  
“What is a Rozarrian doing this far into the Estersand?” he demanded.  
“For nefarious purposes obviously” she snarked back.  
She heard a snort from Bunansa- Balthier, and the blonde frowned, but before he could say anything more Balthier stepped forward.  
“Nevertheless, we could use another sword. So introductions?”  
“ Eleanor D’Grazia at your service” she made an overly flowery curtsy.  
“I’m Vaan!” the child practically bubbled.  
“This is my partner, Fran” Balthier moved forward as the veela made no move.   
The blonde just crossed his arms in stony silence, but she recognized him now.  
“I know you Ser Basch” she smiled, “Don’t you recognize me?”  
“Little Ella?” he said slowly, disbelievingly.  
“Well now that we all know each other, shall we be off?” Balthier motioned a bit tersely.


	2. Chapter 2

She was a bit relieved to have backed up to her limited stock. As they made their way towards Rabanastre she fell in beside Basch towards the back of the group. She was amused to watch that Vaan-child natter on at Balthier, but was a bit perturbed to see his lack of response and his stiff posture. Perhaps he feared she would reveal his background. She understood wanting to escape all too well.  
But she was not that invested in the current affairs this far from her home country, as she suspected they were about. She would accompany them to the city, restock, and be on her way. Being without her airship for a while she would be forced to use the city’s aerodrome. Perhaps she’d visit Bhujerba next. She needed to visit the moogles again for spare parts, maybe take on a hunt in the mines for some loose change. It was always good to stay on top of the hunt board after all. 

Once they reached the city gates she waved them off to buy their own munitions and headed towards the bazaar. She didn’t trust the upper stores as they were licensed by the empire or at least held permits to stock imperials. She felt the bazaar was more real, she got better deals for the same equipment as she was a regular and had opened up more options therein. After upgrading to a better katana and filling out her medical kit she headed to the city’s aerodrome and bought a ticket to Bhujerba.  
She relaxed once she was on the ship’s deck, not wholly trusting this mockery of an airship there were at least three things she would fix about the engines. Don’t get her started on the aesthetics.


	3. Chapter 3

When the ship landed she made her way to the hunt-boards in the pub. Bhujerba always had better options than Rabanastre, and it wasn’t as regulated as the city. Especially for the ones in the nearby mines. Choosing one and going to search for the poster near the skywalk. She ran into Vaan proclaiming his identity as Basch. She wondered if he knew about the marquis spies or if he was just asking for trouble. This seemed more like something Ffamran and her would do.  
She walked past him without calling attention to herself, “Why Ser Bash you seemed to have shrunk>” When he gaped at her she turned and smirked, “As well as losing some clothing.” She glanced up at the nearby skypirate who was trying to inonstrusously watch over the boy. He narrowd his eyes at her, with a gleam of amusement in his green eyes, and she winked at him flirtatiously. she was surprised to see the youngest Solidor peeking out from behind him, looking at her in confusion. She hoped he didn’t recognize her as she turned to corner to seek the moogle hunt poster.  
She found it was a relatively easy hunt, searching out the overgrown adamantois that was a pet. Shouldn’t those come with some kind of warning that it would grow exponentially when exposed to any form of nethicite? Or at least some kind of leash. She ignored the presence of the imperial dreadnaught, assuming that it had something to do with Lara’s minders. Evidently he had gone awol and the judges were panicking, not that Vayne would have cared, but their father would have at least made the appearance of worry. She was disgusted by the “familial loyalty” of the Solidors, seeing as Vaune had had his two elder brothers murdered with nary a word said in mourning. She spent the rest of her stay trying to negotiate a moogle mechanic to stay on her ship for maintenance. They were surprisingly stubborn little furballs.

Ella stretched her arms over her head and headed to the aerodrome where her ship was now docked. Her resident moogles, while not mechanics would have landed there in order to see their brethren. Family was apparently not enough to persuade the entrepreneur inclined moogles. She was still irked at that.  
As she meandered toward her beloved ship she saw that the lock was cracked open, and she raised her brow, not alarmed as she had the keystone. “Not where I put you” she murmured.

**Author's Note:**

> This will be slow as I have no idea what I'm doing with it, but it needed to be done.


End file.
